https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/api.php?action=feedcontributions&feedformat=atom&user=172.68.38.52explain xkcd - User contributions [en]2026-06-27T16:29:11ZUser contributionsMediaWiki 1.30.0https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=Talk:2345:_Wish_on_a_Shooting_Star&diff=195989Talk:2345: Wish on a Shooting Star2020-08-13T05:57:33Z<p>172.68.38.52: </p>
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The other title text references:<br />
https://meteoritecar.com/<br />
https://alabamanewscenter.com/2017/11/30/on-this-day-in-alabama-history-meteorite-struck-oak-groves-ann-hodges/<br />
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chelyabinsk_meteor<br />
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tunguska_event<br />
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I often wish for cool lights in the sky tho...<br />
: Not a bad wish to have. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.238.39|108.162.238.39]] 21:58, 12 August 2020 (UTC)<br />
:: Though someone could think of wanting that, it wouldn't be anyone's first most important choice if you told them they could have a wish granted, unlike the things listed in the wish part of this diagram.--[[Special:Contributions/172.68.38.52|172.68.38.52]] 05:57, 13 August 2020 (UTC)<br />
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Am I the only person who wishes for radio noise? [[User:GreatWyrmGold|GreatWyrmGold]] ([[User talk:GreatWyrmGold|talk]]) 21:53, 12 August 2020 (UTC)<br />
: Enough radio noise on the right frequencies could drown out talk radio, so ... you're not the only one wishing. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.238.39|108.162.238.39]] 21:58, 12 August 2020 (UTC)<br />
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Meteors relative speed to Earth is surely high. However, note that Earth's orbital speed is 29.78 km/s, while the average orbital speed of meteoroids is 20km/s. In many cases it's therefore Earth which hits the meteors with it's high orbital speed ... -- [[User:Hkmaly|Hkmaly]] ([[User talk:Hkmaly|talk]]) 00:37, 13 August 2020 (UTC)<br />
: A laughable claim, Mister Bond, perpetuated by overzealous teachers of science.<br />
: (The unsigned comment above looked to be continued in the unsigned comment below, until I came here to day something and saw they were separate. Hey, people...) It would help if you could say "average at 20km/s ''whilst crossing Earth's orbit''...", because averaged across its entire track might include a lot of drifting around 'out there' and maybe zooming by (or not) during the perihelion segment. And then you only need to worry about retrograde ones (20+29.78, for a palpably mutual hit) and all kinds of other directions of cross, not just ones obviously aphelioning at 1AU in a relatively recently induced orbit that is about to end. Someone must have a table of (known/calculated) closing speeds, as well as directional components defined to Earth's frame-of-reference. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.132|141.101.98.132]] 04:08, 13 August 2020 (UTC)<br />
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With the valuable minerals contained within meteorites, it's reasonable that shooting stars could cause money/power. And to astrogeologists, there's success right there!<br />
: If someone makes money off of selling a meteor they found, it's because they are a rare curiosity or of scientific value, not due to the minerals being of high value if they didn't come from a meteor. Though there are some historical cases of people without the technology to forge iron normally making iron tools from a meteor. However, someone finding the meteor on the ground later is a little different than the direct results of it falling (as the chart says things caused by "shooting stars" not "meteor rocks")--[[Special:Contributions/172.68.38.52|172.68.38.52]] 05:57, 13 August 2020 (UTC)</div>172.68.38.52